Tutorial of an Elasticated Dress

Today I wanted to do something different. This is what eventually got created and I thought it would be nice to share this with you. I took a piece of material roughly 24cm wide and 20cm long, some shearing elastic

Pic 1Pic 2Pic 3Pic 4Pic 5

I zigzagged the top of the material then folded it over. I took the shearing elastic and started making rows along the top. As you can see I went the width of the sewing foot and passed the shearing elastic down the middle. I used a zigzag to hold the elastic. (Pic 1) The start of the elastic I tied a knot and put a pin to secure it while I sewed. I did 5 row but as you can see it seemed rather low. (Pic 2) Next time I think I will do 6 rows. In the picture with me measuring the lines it looked alright but if you look at the finished dress it could have been higher. The finished product should look like Pic 3. To secure the elastic at the sides, I sewed up and down the elasticized area. I then folded the ends over, like in pic 4, as a placket. Then I sewed up the back seam, pressed it open and hemmed the bottom. Because of the elastic the top just slides down so you will need some kind of strap. I like using the same material, so I made my straps with that. You can also use ribbon. The choice is yours. For a closure I used Velcro but you can use buttons or studs or whatever you like to use. (Pic 7) You may also want to close

Pic 7

the back up altogether as the material is wide enough to pass over the hips and bust. Annie unfortunately have bent arms so it gets difficult to put on.

I hope this was helpful to you. Please fell free to gve me some feedback.